Archive for May, 2016

Another week has gone by with this cutie. It seems like he’s in a transition. Eating more frequently, sleeping less. He’s smiling a little more this week, maybe a few times each day. He cries quite a bit but makes up for it with that sweet little face. I can’t wait until Addie and Beckett are on summer break. I feel bad dragging him in and out of the car all day long.

This happy boy turned 2 last weekend! I can hardly believe how quickly two years went. He’s developed such a fun personality. He’s talking non-stop, climbing, jumping and running around like a crazy boy, loves cars, trucks and trains, and is the sweetest big brother to Holden. He truly lights up the room!

He had a full day of birthday fun starting out with his room filled with balloons. We had Mickey Mouse pancakes at Addie’s request, complete with whipped cream and sprinkles. One of his daycare friends had his birthday party that afternoon, so Coen got to be a crazy boy at Gymboree before coming home to cake and presents with Gram and Gramps. He’ll get to celebrate again in June with a combo birthday party with Beckett but I’d say his “real birthday” was a success. We sure love this little ball of energy!!!

This beauty!! She continues to amaze me. Alyssa officially graduated last Friday with her masters in speech pathology. She’s spent the last few months in Florida doing her externship. We’ve missed her terribly so were thrilled to spend ten whole days with her. Addie and Coen were entertained by her snap chat filters and she brought the best toys from Disneyworld. Not that she needed to win anyone over but they were quite impressed! Beckett and Holden were a bit grumpy and probably turned Auntie off from ever wanting kids of her own. They only have themselves to blame if Auntie never gives them cousins 😊We sure enjoyed our time with her and can’t wait until she comes home again in July. Until then, she’s just working at Disneyworld enjoying her summer. Rough life being 23! We love you, Auntie, and are so proud of you!

I don’t know how it’s already been one month with this little cutie. Adjusting to four babes took a few weeks, but if feels like we’ve settled into a routine now. It’s a bit of a struggle getting Addie and Beckett dropped off at and picked up from school, carrying a car seat on one arm and a near 30 pound toddler in the other is rather difficult, but we’re in the home stretch now. Just a few weeks to go until summer break! We took full advantage of Auntie being home for ten days; I was able to get out without a full car on many occasions. She deserves a whole blog post of her own though, more on Auntie’s visit soon.

For now, Holden’s 4th week.

He’s been completely integrated into our crazy schedule this past week. Three therapies with Beckett, a consult to start horse therapy, Beckett’s IEP meeting, a less than 24 hour road trip to EDH for Beckett’s 6-month review at Shriners…I think Beckett needs a blog post of his own, too! Holden is eating with no problem now. I don’t think we’ve given him formula this week and he’s still sleeping pretty well. He wants to eat practically every two hours all day long. Addie didn’t have school on Friday so we went to the museum while Beckett was at school. Holden slept most of the time but woke up to let me know he thought I was nuts.

Seriously, that look! I imagine I’ll see a lot of this in the next 18 years.

He’s awake more often now so is getting to spend some time on his activity mat. He’s not completely sold on it yet but usually makes some “aahhh” and “oooo” sounds when he’s happy. And, my favorite milestone, yesterday he started smiling!! Just a few times but he’s practicing a little more today. He’s more consistent with Dad, of course. They all started this way. I put in all the hard work and Dad gets the smiles. Just kidding, Jimmy works hard too and I’ll take any smiles regardless of who they’re aimed at!! Such a darling…what an amazing month it has been!

We had a good week here, celebrating my first Mother’s Day with four babes. How lucky am I? We did a mini sibling photo shoot since Addie and Coen weren’t home when Kendall did Holden’s newborn pics. We had a park date complete with Addie and Coen dancing on the picnic tables. Addie’s quite the helper and insisted on pushing a stroller during our walk. Holden got his first full bath this week since his cord fell off. He was not a fan. Then he finally met Auntie who is home from Florida for graduation. On top of that, Holden gained 8 ounces this week! Last Thursday, he was still slightly under birth weight. Today, he’s 8 pounds 7 ounces! Those 2 ounce of formula before bed seem to be paying off. I hope this keeps up; I really want those chunky baby rolls soon.

A few days late…it took a few days to get a pic of Holden awake and not screaming…but we’ve survived two weeks with four babes. This past week was more of a challenge than the first. Holden likes to be awake more but isn’t sure what to do with himself. He’s still selectively nursing. Half the time, he decides he doesn’t remember how to latch. He’s still one ounce off of birth weight so we’re formula feeding once a day and have another weight check next week. He likes to be held all day long, which would be fine if he were an only child! I do love snugly, sleeping babies, but there are three others that need to be fed and played with, too. Needless to say, there has been lots of crying this past week (mostly children, just a little from mom!). He’s not a difficult baby by any means, just a baby. I think we were spoiled with how easy Coen was. This is definitely an adjustment.

We did manage to get out a little last week. Holden had newborn pics with Kendall, tagged along to dance class with Addie, attended Mother’s Day Tea at Addie’s school, celebrated Cinco de Mayo at El Adobe with Jimmy and me after we dropped Beckett off at school Thursday and had our first family outing to the park. Next week, Jimmy’s back to work so he’ll get to experience mom’s taxi service and Beckett’s therapies. Should be interesting! Wish us luck 🙂